Poet, playwright, and novelist Jackie Kay is the current Makar (the National Poet of Scotland) and previous winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize.
Born in Edinburgh to a Nigerian father and Scottish mother she was then adopted and grew up in Glasgow.
Her play The Lamplighter has recently been reissued and follows five characters sold into the British slave trade: in the process she explores Scotland's often overlooked role in this.
She ran the Makar to Makar online performance project during lockdown when literary festivals were cancelled.
She also has a book on the blues singer Bessie Smith due out next year.
Jackie Kay Photo: supplied
